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Posts tagged ‘Technology’

Mar 4

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SGA Sound-Off: EdLiberty Bill

Alrighty folks, in possibly the longest (and most well-attended) meeting of the Senate yet this year, there was quite the lively discussion this evening. As always, I’m here with the scoop. Apologies in advance for grammatical, spelling, and/or nonsensical errors, running on thesis-deadline fumes my friends.

In old business discussions: (1) The ad-hoc committee on the restoration of Worth Mountain Lodge is still going and will continue to report on progress. (2) After a polling of constituents as to what newspapers they most prefer, with overwhelming support for the New York Times the Presidential cabinet will keep this in mind when re-negotiating the contract for subscriptions (current contract ending this year).

However, to the meat of the meeting, the EdLiberty Proposal. The brainchild of Brian Foster ’13, EdLiberty is a community-building media and information sharing platform that would allow students, faculty, alumni, staff (anyone with an @middlebury.edu email) to instantly generate content that would be immediately made visible and open to the entire Middlebury community. It’s a four-prong platform, made of: Thinktank (a discussion platform for open conversations), Bulletins (where anyone could post events and activities), Newsroom (a space for posting news links), and video (would be administered by Old Chapel to promote Middlebury videos: sports, arts, performances, speakers, etc.). The bill requested $33,500 in start up funds from the SGA, which if received the administration would match at $33,500 to fund the full request amount of approx. $67,000.

Brian Sirkia, head of MiddVenture Community, shares his opinions regarding the EdLiberty proposal. The Crest room was filled nearly to capacity, with chairs (and couches) brought down from the upstairs gallery to accommodate all attendees.

As previously alluded to, this bill brought many voices, questions, and opinions from  senators, the SGA Presidential Cabinet, and the student body. In his presentation Brian Foster ’13 identified that EdLiberty fills a community need that he saw since being a first-year here at Middlebury, the ability to have a platform for full, open discussions within the community, bringing voices from all across campus and beyond. With EdLiberty he stated, “For the first time anyone in the community can communicate with everyone else at once.”

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Jan 5

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A J-Term challenge from Dean Collado

Yesterday, Dean of the College and Chief Diversity Officer Shirley Collado posted on the One Dean’s View blog. Her article, “The Disconnection of Being Connected,” offers an interesting point.

Concerned that too many of us are glued to our phone and computer screens, Collado warns, “The face-to-face conversation, the hand-written note, and the reassuring touch have given way to the casual, distant interaction that sometimes comes with living life virtually.”

As I noted in JP’s 2010 list, we are an increasingly plugged-in population. We know the benefits of Facebook and email, but the costs are what Collado asks us to consider:

I worry that this may be the first generation without sufficient experience in making human connections, that we are encouraging the development of individuals who will not know how to talk directly to each other and resolve conflict across human lines. We may run the risk of simply becoming observers, passive non-participants in our own lives. I worry that technology, to some extent, is pacifying and paralyzing us.

Commenter Kya A agrees, saying, “It’s crazy. I gave up facebook for a few months twice last year and missed an engagement, a birth, and several birthday party invites. I felt like I had just come out of a mini-coma.”

What would happen if you lost your Internet connection for a week? Could you give it up for that long while on campus? Just 24 hours?

“But why wait for a power outage before you disconnect? Try it. Tell me how it went,” Collado challenges.

Sounds like a J-Term project. I’m considering it for a day or two. Anyone else?

Oct 16

1 Comment

TechJam

I spent today’s gray afternoon in Burlington at the Vermont 3.0 TechJam, a free (thankfully indoor) career fair.  I went to follow up on Michael’s post promoting the event earlier this week — and to allay some of my own senior-year tension about my future.

 

A full weekend of events (photos by Caroline Grego '11).

 

TechJam comes but once a year, and it started on Friday and ended today, so I won’t try to “review” it.  Here are some impressions that stuck:

Average age.  I’d expected most of my fellow TechJam hopefuls to be about 23; the real age was much older.  The picture might have been different during Friday’s special student session, but most exhibitors I talked to saw college students as a significant but not overwhelming section of their audience.  Inside the Middlebury bubble, it’s easy to forget that there are plenty of people in the world who aren’t college students.  TechJam provided a gentle introduction to the real world: this is the workforce, and we are adults competing with adults now.  The numerous job-seekers who brought along their children were pointed reminders of the different kind of competitive atmosphere we enter after we graduate from college.

Midd alumni.  Getting less metaphorical, TechJam was surprisingly valuable for the density of Middlebury contacts  involved.  My experience with this was anecdotal, but still: at a number of booths, as well as at the registration desk for the ‘Jam, the mention of Middlbury College got responses like “we have a few employees/editors/etc. who are alums” or even “I went there!” So even though the event is in Burlington and features companies that don’t necessarily work in or near Midd, you won’t be among strangers.

Smile? The debate over whether the workplace should be “fun” was alive and well at TechJam. A major sponsor of the event, Dealer.com, featured a booth sprinkled with free candy and played a video of their team lip-syncing “I Gotta Feeling”.  Other companies promoted themselves in more restrained ways. Make ‘em laugh or down with fun?

Swag. OK, it’s superficial, but a lot of free stuff was being given away. I got candy, an essential VPR bumper sticker, a pen or two, and entries into raffles for an iPod and iPad.

What it is. A great event if you’re interested in anything technology-oriented.  Best-fit majors might be Computer Science, Math, any of the hard sciences, Econ, Geography — with good communication skills.  Foreign languages don’t help much here.

That’s the story. Here are the pictures:

Oct 12

4 Comments

In Town This Weekend? Head to Vermont 3.0 Tech Jam!

The work is tough and our stamina is waning. With each passing night, my hammock and Otter Creek pumpkin ale growler cry to me louder from the closet. But never fear, my baby birds, fall break is almost upon us!

For the loiterers around town this weekend: consider heading over to the Vermont 3.0 Tech Jam, a free (ooh!) tech and job expo this Friday and Saturday at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. Over 60 local creative, tech, green, and bioscience companies will be showcasing their work, and promoting job and internship opportunities for young people interested in media and technology.

Hiba Fakhoury ’09 of Ask Hiba fame in fact received a job offer at this event in 2008, levying a connection with a Midd alum to secure a position as software engineer at Pragmatic Technologies, Inc. She returned to Tech Jam the following year to recruit for the company.

Over e-mail, Hiba provided the following advice:

…do some research on the companies that are present, what positions they are hiring for (if any), and what technologies they are working on. I say that because it can be a little overwhelming when you’re there to figure out who to talk to. Plus you can make more of an impression on an employer at the event if you know something about their company (as opposed to saying “tell me about your company”).

I’d definitely recommend to take multiple copies of your resume, and to dress as you would for an interview. I have gotten emails from companies I met at the event a year or so later when they were looking to hire. I would also make sure to keep everyone’s contact information and to try and contact them after the event.

Wise words! If you’re interested in the concept of working for money, or — for the more noble among us — for the experience, it’s definitely an event worth checking out. For more information, see the website here.

A video from the 2008 event:

(via Seven Days)

Apr 20

9 Comments

So Midd has some stock in software now… Why care?

In response to last week’s announcement regarding Middlebury Interactive Languages, the Middlebury community’s reaction has been relatively subdued regarding the College’s 40% hold in the computer software venture. This is especially surprising when compared with those supporters calling it a “revolution” in language-learning, or otherwise, with those who fear the software could damage Middlebury’s reputation.

The next Midd marriage, thanks to MIL?

The next Midd marriage, thanks to MIL?

The College is taking a significant step with Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL). Administration is counting on MIL as a “fourth revenue stream” to supplement tuition, the endowment, and gifts. What is more, according to the MIL software’s web site, the chief aim of the software is to answer the increasing need for foreign languages, while language-learning resources in the U.S. decline.

Perhaps the muted response on students’ behalf is due to the fact, that apart from periodic e-mail updates from the Office of the President, the College’s other recent additions — our adding “a graduate school of Middlebury College” (oh yes, by this fall, that is what Monterey will officially be) and the expansion of summer language programs to high-school students via MMLA — do not affect current Midd undergraduate students.

Though the Monterey Institute and MMLA might not noticeably impact the Vermont campus, here’s why you should care about the newest addition of MIL.

  • ‘BRAND’ ON THE LINE? K12, the company taking care of the tech and distribution side, seems to be a worthy partner – experienced, respected, and committed to providing learning tools “to maximize success in life, regardless of geographic, financial or demographic circumstances.” But still, is this Midd’s sell-out to the Man? Are we now that money-grubbing, liberal arts college? After following the commentary for a while now, it seems to me the answer is no. Why?
  1. MIL doesn’t change language schools or schools abroad. That’s why the “Middlebury brand” exists in the first place (outside of being another New England liberal arts college) – and they, along with the brand, are not going anywhere.
  2. MIL is entrepreneurial and creative. Problem: Middle- and high-school language program resources are on the decline. Solution: Create an alternative for intensive, pre-college language-learning using Middlebury’s experience. True, Internet-based learning does not help teachers keep jobs on the line. However, the fact remains that the U.S. is losing foreign language teachers to budget cuts: some substitute is needed. MIL is Midd’s answer. Plus, education experts agree that classroom tech is both necessary and helpful. Check out the stats on the software’s website and in the InsideHigherEd.com review for yourself.
  3. MIL really is aimed at solving this deficiency. The target audience is exclusively pre-college students who need language skills. It isn’t a tool for awkward middle-aged men trying to impress foreign supermodels, like the Rosetta Stone farm boy. It sounds like President President Liebowitz might even get it for his kids!
  • WHAT ABOUT THE LIFE-CONSUMING ‘PLEDGE’? Well, there won’t be one, it seems. But isn’t that why Middlebury language (summer schools, language tables, C.V. Starr Schools Abroad) work in the first place? Yes and no. The immersive, in-language, in-culture “Middlebury method” has literally a century of experience and success, yes, much of which is due to the Pledge (registered trademark). Though, as Middlebury Language Programs V.P. Michael Geisler says in the second video on this page, due to the College’s experience, the new programs “will be significantly more immersive than other programs” currently available. There will even be online clubs and 3-D simulators (boy, I wish that I’d had something like that to practice with, especially after my first attempts at dealing with “customer service” in Russia…). “Experience schmerience,” you say. As a Russian School alum, I can vouch that compared with other students coming to summer school with two years of Russian under their belts like me, my fellow Russian Department comrades and I consistently placed into higher levels than those from other colleges. Middlebury knows something about teaching language, outside of the pledge, too.
  • THEY KEEP SAYING ‘VENTURE’… This is a risk, like all investments. But, looking at the success of the MMLA for high-school students, Middlebury’s track-record in language instruction, and the promising partnership with K12 and its existing market, we have reason to expect some degree of success. Advertising Midd? Yup. Revolutionize language teaching? Maybe. Make some money? Seems so, too.

The announcement about MIL came in the same week as another e-mail message to students regarding recently purchased properties new housing options to expand student capacity (now listed on the Room Draw webpage). EDIT: The shifts in office and housing space on campus are to be funded through the newly created RRR (Reserve for Renewal and Replacement), a fund set apart for infrastructure updates in order to avoid depreciation on existing college properties.

Perhaps this signals a change of pace in the College’s financial outlook.

No doubt, we are still recovering from the losses of the crisis, with Juice Bar hours as the most recent addition to the list; though, with two long-range investments set in motion in the same week, Middlebury is (finally?) moving forward with confidence and a new product to sell.

(Now who’s with me crossing their fingers for free copies?!)

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